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Characters In Raymond Carver's 'They Are Not Your Husband'

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Analytical Essay –” They’re Not Your Husband” “They’re not your husband” by Raymond Carver, is about an episode in the life of a married couple, Earl a salesman and alcoholic and Doreen the night shifter at a café. One-night Earl stopped by Doreen’s workplace to take a sip of coffee and get something to eat, while eating Earl overhears two men discussing on his wife’s appearance, calling her fat and non-attractive. Earl starts feeling uncomfortable. When they got home that night he had a talk with Doreen, and he talks her into going on a diet. After some throwbacks, Doreen starts starving herself and manages to lose weight. Earl buys a weighing scale and tracks Doreen’s progress daily, so he can keep track and control of her weight loss. The story is about appearance and how opinions can control and make people obsessed and embarrassment about their appearance. The same theme, appearance goes on into other stories and even poem, such as “Give Up Slimming, Mum” by Kit Wright, which about how the changes can become a plea for the persons around you. The main characters in “they’re not your husband” are Doreen and Earl. Earl appears as a controlling husband, forcing Doreen to lose weight for his pleasure and ego, he also seems to have a lack of respect and love for Doreen. He starts treating her as a pet, by checking her weight every morning, and not caring about her health, it goes so far as replacing his job, and he keeps a record in a notebook. Doreen is a respectful

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